The ADHD Accountability Experiment - What I've Learned So Far
Four weeks ago, I made a decision that terrified my ADHD brain: 365 days. Daily training. One YouTube video every single day. Today marks day 28, and I need to share what's happened—because it's not what I expected. The Brutal Truth About Week 1-2 My ADHD brain did exactly what I predicted: it panicked and tried to sabotage the whole thing. - Day 3: Forgot to record until 11:47 PM (uploaded at midnight) - Day 7: Spent 4 hours editing a 5-minute video (classic hyperfocus trap) - Day 12: Had zero energy, almost quit, posted anyway with terrible audio - Day 14: Batch-recorded 3 videos in one hyperfocus session (saved my ass later) - Week 3-4: The System Started Working Here's where it got interesting. My engineering brain finally kicked in and started optimizing: What's Actually Working: - Pre-recording during hyperfocus sessions (I now have a 6-video buffer) - "Minimum viable content" rule for low-energy days - Phone alarms every 2 hours asking: "Video done?" - Celebrating tiny wins instead of perfect content The Unexpected Discovery: The daily accountability isn't just changing my content creation—it's rewiring how my ADHD brain approaches ALL commitments. The Data After 28 Days Like any good engineer, I've been tracking: - ✅ 28/28 days completed (100% so far) - Average time per video: 45 minutes (down from 2+ hours) - Missed recording time: 6 days (but never missed upload) - Energy crashes handled: 4 (backup content saved me) - Hyperfocus sessions leveraged: 8 What This Taught Me About ADHD & Accountability Lesson 1: External accountability beats internal motivation every time. Knowing you're watching keeps me going when my brain wants to quit. Lesson 2: Systems beat willpower. I'm not more disciplined than 28 days ago—I just built better failure-prevention systems. Lesson 3: ADHD consistency looks different. Some days I record for 20 minutes, some days for 3 hours. Both count as "done." Lesson 4: Progress isn't linear. I had 3 terrible days this week, but the system carried me through.